C A L E B

Patricia was sitting on her desk in front of us, face buried in her hands in a clear sign of distress. Since we've arrived in her office, she hasn't spoken a word. The three of us were beginning to worry.

Finally, she lifted her head then stared directly at me.

"I'm assuming you know why I asked you boys to meet me here immediately." That had me fidgeting nervously. I couldn't help but stare down at my lap as I nodded, hearing my bandmates mumble their answers.

"Caleb, would you mind telling me what you think you did wrong?" Patricia asked. Her voice was calm, even though I'm pretty sure she's about to burst in fury any minute now.

"W-Was it the tweet?"

"Yes, Caleb. It. Was. The. Damn. Tweet!" She almost growled, standing up and slamming her palms down on her desk.

"I'm really sorry about that." My voice was losing confidence.

"Do you know what a huge problem this is?" Patricia began pacing around the length of her office. She was a mixture of desperation and annoyance, using her hands to gesture as she spoke. "Journalists are having a field day writing hate articles, your fans have begun feuds against one another—all this and you've just released your album last week! For a band that has your popularity, I'm sorry to say but it seems that even your sales have been affected."

"Patricia, Cal didn't mean to tweet it." Max spoke up from beside me.

"Yeah, he was drunk. It was a mistake." My other bandmate, Archer, piled on. I was situated between the two, feeling worse by the minute.

"And how many times have I told you boys not to tweet while you were hammered? I would take your stupid dirty tweets over this."

"I'm really sorry, Patricia." I mumbled, not knowing what else to say. It was really my fault for posting that stupid tweet, of course people would take it the wrong way. I was drunk beyond belief. I didn't even fully realize what it was I tweeted until the following day.

"I know you're sorry, Caleb. I also know you didn't mean to say what others think you meant. But no matter how sorry you are, it still caused a big problem, your band has already been getting a bad image."

The olive-skinned woman leaned back on her chair, twiddling her thumbs with a worried expression morphing her face. I'm glad Patricia knew I wasn't actually what the articles were calling me, but I knew how an issue like this could ruin musicians like me. To say that I was concerned about what might happen to my band was the understatement of the year.

"Is there any way to fix it?" Archer asked as he tried not to show how worried he actually was, but I knew better. Max was even chewing on his bottom lip. They both forgave me for what I did, though it was obvious they were bummed about what the media's been saying about it.

"Deleting your tweet didn't work, obviously it didn't. What we need is a plan to turn all this bad publicity into a good one." Patricia tapped her polished nails on the armrest of her leather chair. Silence settled around the room, but the look of concentration on her face made it seem like you could hear the gears turn in her head.

It didn't take too long until her eyes widened and a smile overtook her lips. "I think I just thought of something that could work."

"Really?" It was ridiculous how in-sync the three of us were sometimes. It didn't even seem to phase Patricia anymore.

"Okay, tell me exactly what you tweeted again." She stood up, circling her desk and sitting at the edge with her fingers clasped together on top of her lap.

"Kissing the same gender looks weird."

"This made you come out as homophobic, right?" Patricia clarified. It wasn't true, not even one bit, but it was what everyone's been thinking of since the tweet.

Max answered instead, "We saw lots of people say that, actually. A lot of other artists even mentioned it."

"What if we change their belief?" Our manager smirked.

"What do you mean?" I asked slowly.

"What if you started dating somebody and that somebody happens to be the same gender?"

My eyes were widening to the size of marbles. Archer was choking on his saliva. Max's jaw seemed to drop to the floor.

"Wait. Wait. Hold on. You're saying that not only do I have to pretend to date someone, I also have to date a guy?"

"It's the perfect plan! Once the world sees you going out with another man and they start asking questions about your tweet, you could say it was a hint about your new relationship—and they would actually believe you!" Patricia's own face brightened, clearly finding her own idea excellent. "It's not like you need to do a lot, just enough to let people believe you. The agreement won't last forever either, only until everyone stops thinking you're homophobic and the good image of your band is restored."

I was too appalled to even fully comprehend what was coming out of Patricia's mouth.

"Who exactly will Caleb have to... fake-date?" Archer grimaced at his words and so did I.

"Well, I haven't gotten to that yet."

I was still absorbing what was happening.

I had to date a man. Pretend to date, but still.

"Alright, he has to be living here, in Australia, since we want you both to be seen out together as much as possible." Patricia started scribbling in a notebook she got from the top of her desk.

"Is she serious right now?" Archer whispered to Max and I. It was comforting to know my bandmates saw how utterly insane this was.

"This is messed up, man!" Max was looking at Patricia as if she grew another head.

"He obviously needs to be your age," Patricia continued to list off, not even paying attention to us. "I think he should be a celebrity. It'll be too obvious if we just hired someone out of nowhere."

"Patricia, this is ridiculous. You're messing with Caleb's love life. Are you even allowed to do this?" Max argued.

I didn't actually expect Patricia to pull a folder from her drawer then toss it above her desk. "You can look through this copy of your band's contract, the one all of you mutually agreed to sign."

We were all stunned to silence. Max was the one brave enough to grab the folder, flipping through the pages inside using more force than necessary. He stopped somewhere in the middle, eyes moving through each word with lightning speed.

"Holy shit—It says right here: the management is therefore allowed to interfere in a member's personal affairs if there is a chance it may cause harm not only to the individual, but also to the entire band. What the hell?!"

I wanted to disappear.

Archer recovered the fastest, understanding that we couldn't do anything now but roll with the punches. Even though the punches seemed to keep going. "Not that I'm agreeing to this one bit, but let's say Caleb over here really can't say no. This man you need Caleb to pretend to be with must be Australian, his age, and a celebrity, right?" The oldest of our band ticked off. Patricia nodded.

There was another moment of silence, broken by Max when he mumbled, "Caleb. You don't think she means... "

It took a painful moment for me to realize that there is a certain boy Patricia and I know of. And he just so happened to match exactly what she was looking for.

"No. Nope. You have got to be kidding me." I sighed, already feeling a strong headache coming along.

Patricia didn't seem to care about my internal struggles at the moment. "It makes sense, you and I both know that. You already know him."

"You can not be serious."

"Caleb, I'm quite serious."

"So, does that mean he'll have to date—"

"Don't even say his name." I cut Archer off. I was dreading to think of the possibility that Patricia was referring to him.

But, obviously, this hasn't been my day.

"Yes. You will, in fact, have to date Liam Walker."

L I A M

"I don't know why I did it, Cher. Please, don't leave me! I-I need you."

"Why do you even need me? You obviously don't give a damn, you were happy enough without me. Why would you want me to stay, huh?" She was sobbing now, chucking clothes into the brown leather bag as I tried to get her to stop and actually look at me.

I grabbed her wrists, struggling to get her to calm down. "I'm not letting go of you. You can't leave like this!" I stared right in her eyes before pulling her closer to me. "Not again."

"And cut!"

A loud buzzer goes off and the studio lights flicker on. Cara wiped away her fake tears, giving me a smile. "It took them almost an hour for the make-up and only one take for it all to be ruined," She said. I laughed, helping her clean up a bit of the mascara that smudged and dried around her eyes.

"Okay everyone," Our director, Ben, called out as he stood from his chair. "That's our last scene for today. Thank you guys, y'all did great!" There was a round of applause.

"I'll see you soon, Cara!" I waved goodbye, going in for a hug which she returned enthusiastically. We parted ways, heading to our own dressing rooms. I didn't forget to thank the staff as I went, shaking their hands as well.

Courtney appeared beside me all of a sudden. "Liam! Nice work, as usual. I know this is sudden, but Dave wants you in his office. He says it's urgent." The petite girl explained. I slowed down my pace so that she wouldn't have to hurry just to keep up with my, as Courtney says, ridiculously long legs.

"Why does he want to meet with me?" I asked. Courtney shrugged. "I don't know. He didn't tell me anything."

My brows furrowed. "Well, that's odd."

I got into my dressing room as Courtney opted to wait outside. I changed out of the outfit given by the stylist: denim pants and a plain white button-down. I slipped on my own clothes, which were black skinny jeans and a loose-fitting turtleneck sweater. I ran a hand through my hair, making sure I looked presentable before heading out to say goodbye to all my co-stars on set and Ben.

Courtney and I exited the building which I've been coming to for the past few weeks for the shooting. We got inside a black van, and I greeted our driver and listened as Courtney explained. "Since we don't know how long your meeting will take, I think we should reschedule your editorial shoot. It'll be better if we're sure that you can be there on time tomorrow." Courtney pulled out her phone and began typing, contacting the director of the shoot most likely.

"Thanks, Courtney. Where would I be without you?" I grinned teasingly. Courtney rolled her eyes, not even bothering to look up.

She didn't speak until she was finished typing. "Oh! I have some news. Someone contacted me, I don't know how they even got my number. Basically, they asked if you were willing to do a nude photoshoot. It would be their concept for the next issue of their magazine. I thought it was a prank call, but I did some research. Turns out the guy and his company is legit."

I blinked. "You declined, right?"

"They were persistent. I was being nice, telling them I'd bring it up with you while also reminding them that you have an agent who handles these kinds of deals. The guy said he needed me to get you to call them back since that's all I'm good for, apparently." Courtney used finger-quotes.

"What?" It shocked me how some people could be so rude, and the fact that they think they could say that to Courtney. "What'd you tell him?"

"I told him to shove his offer up his ass."

#

We got to ShowBiz Management HQ, which was a white building with a modern structure and too many floors. Once we arrived at the twentieth floor where Dave's office was, the hallways were quiet. Which wasn't unusual since nobody really came up here except for those who worked directly with Dave.

I knocked on the door that led to his office, waiting for a moment until I turned the knob. Dave was talking to his secretary, a paper in hand.

"Hey, Dave." I greeted him.

"Good morning, Liam. Just the man I wanted to see." Dave gave me a grin before looking towards the girl standing, waiting at his side. "Thank you, Vivian, that'll be all." Vivian nodded, collecting the piece of paper in Dave's hand along with a stack of envelopes before exiting his office.

"Thanks, Courtney, for bringing him here." Dave smiled at my assistant, organizing some files on his desk. "No problem, sir. I'll be waiting in the lobby." Courtney said from where she was stood by the door frame. She closed the door behind her.

"Take a seat, Liam." Dave gestured. I did so, sitting on one of the black sofa chairs in front of his desk. "What did you want to talk about?" I questioned.

"We'll get to that. First, how was the shoot today? Courtney informed me that you were on set only for a couple of hours."

"It's going great. We were just reshooting this one scene, which is why I didn't have to stay there for too long."

"Good, good." And then we took a couple of minutes to catch up. I asked Dave about his wife and kids, he asked me about my family, and we talked about some of my future projects. It was going well, I almost forgot that he had something urgent to say.

"Alright," Dave huffed out once we got all of that out of the way. "The main reason why I called you down here was because someone reached out to me just a while ago. She proposed an arrangement of sorts, and it involves you."

"An arrangement?"

"Yes. Patricia Wilkins from Unleash Records called me not that long ago. She said that she had an issue with one of her signed artists." Dave tried to explain, but I was just getting more confused.

"Okay, but what does that have to do with me?" I didn't mention how there's a certain person at Unleash Records I am familiar with, since I knew he had nothing to do with this.

"Ms. Wilkins briefed me about the situation. What she needs is for her artist to be in a pretend relationship with you."

What.

I opened my mouth, trying to form a sentence. No words were coming out. A few seconds of stunned silence passed by.

"Um. I just have one question."

"Go ahead, Liam."

"Are you bullshitting me!?"

Dave shook his head. "You'd think so, but no. The only reason I'm agreeing to this is because I believe this wi-"

Someone knocked, causing both Dave and I to avert our attention towards the door. Vivian swung open the door. "Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Zellner. Your guests are here now."

"Ah, perfect timing. Please, send them in." Vivian nodded, leaving to fetch these mystery people.

"Guests?" I raised an eyebrow at Dave who was now typing away on his desk computer.

"You'll see." Was all he offered. Just as I was about to tell Dave how much I hated not knowing things, footsteps sounded from outside the door.

The first person to enter was a woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties. She had reddish hair in a tight bun and was wearing a pencil skirt with a matching blazer.

Once I got a good view of the man behind who I assumed was Patricia Wilkins, my stomach dropped and a cold chill erupted all over my body.

His gaze immediately landed on me, and my face was no doubt showing shock. I turned towards my manager and glared, trying not to lose my composure. It truly took effort on my part. "Dave, what the hell is he doing here?"

"Nice to see you too, Liam." Caleb's face looked indifferent, as if he expected to see me, which he probably did.

"Hello, Mr. Zellner. It's so nice of you to agree to meet with me." The lady who came in with Caleb greeted Dave, shaking his hand.

"No problem at all, Ms. Wilkins." Dave responded.

"Please, call me Patricia. This is Caleb Novak," Caleb shook hands with Dave, managing to smile politely and then sitting down on the other sofa, inches away from me.

It dawned on me what was happening.

"No. Dave, you can not be serious." I begged.

"I'm sorry for bothering you with this, Mr. Walker. Caleb is in a sort of sticky situation with a certain tweet and now he needs to pretend to be with you in order to get the bad rep to stop." Patricia explained, her voice calm and her features soft. It almost made me want to hate her less.

Almost.

"I'm sorry, but why does it have to be me?" I asked, averting my attention to Dave. "And why are you even agreeing to this?!"

Patricia was the one who replied, "The main reason we asked for you is because of your status. You, being a world-known actor and model, makes this plan seem a bit more real. If Caleb here just started dating an ordinary man, lots of people will assume we hired him and think the relationship is fake."

"Why is Dave agreeing to this?" I asked once more and this time, thankfully, Dave spoke up.

"Caleb's band, 3 New Efforts, has recently been getting a lot more popular. If you started dating him, it'll cause a storm in the media! People will go crazy over this, you'll gain more publicity which is great for both of you."

"Plus, it'll put the whole tweet issue aside." Patricia added.

"Don't I have a say in this?" I asked in disbelief, but Dave gave me a look. "Liam, I know you two aren't on the best terms, but think about it. Both of you will benefit incredibly from this. We're not asking you to fall in love with each other, we're asking you to pretend. Act!"

I pointed a finger towards Caleb, not bothering to look at him. "But why would people believe he's suddenly dating a man?!"

"Because of the tweet." Patricia interjected. "We'll tell the media that the reason he tweeted that was to hint everyone about your new relationship."

Dave stood then, eyes shifting from me to Caleb then back to me. "Liam, you know I'd never force you into something that could damage your career. I know you'll be able to pull this off," He turned to Patricia. "Patricia, if you don't mind, I would like to speak to you for a moment." Both managers left the office, leaving Caleb and I alone.

"This is a horrible, messed up idea." I huffed, neither of us looking at each other.

"It's not like I agreed to it." Caleb mumbled, gritting his teeth.

"This is your fault," I turned my head, facing his profile. "What possessed you to even do something as stupid as tweet that?"

"I don't think you noticed, but it'll be easier for you since you already came out as gay years ago, you won't be bombarded with questions." Caleb spat out, facing me as well. I ignored the way my chest clenched in favor of trying to stop myself from bashing my head against a wall.

"Why did your manager even choose me? There are tons of other celebrities."

"I don't know, maybe it's her way of punishing me for putting the band through this mess."

"I didn't realize punishing you had to involve me."

This plan will not work. It will never work. Nothing's happened yet and I already wanted the ground to swallow me whole.

L I A M

This was serious.

They were treating this as a serious thing.

"You guys can not be serious." I choked out.

I stared at the piece of paper in my hands. It was a freaking contract.

"Patricia, this must be some sort of joke." Caleb said, glaring at his copy of the contract.

Basically, the contract stated that everything about this situation is strictly confidential. Only Dave, Patricia, management, and Caleb's bandmates are the ones who are supposed to know. Our families could later be involved, but for now it's just us who will know that this whole thing is fake.

The contract also stated that whenever management told us to do something that involves the other person, we'll have to do it. Going on dates, attending each other's events, P.D.A. Just everything.

"This is what you guys were doing when you left for fifteen minutes?" I asked both our managers.

"Yes, actually. You'll need to sign them in mutual agreement. If you violate the contract, then there will be consequences for both of you." Dave said, leaving no room for argument.

"No way in hell am I going out holding hands and acting all lovesick with him." I deadpanned, gesturing to Caleb but keeping my gaze on Dave.

"Liam, I'm really sorry you had to be dragged into this, and I'm pretty sure you're mad at me for planning this whole thing--" Patricia started but I cut her off. "No, I'm not mad at you. I understand why you have to do this, trust me," I replied truthfully before continuing, "I'm mad at Caleb for being a reckless drunk."

"I made a mistake, alright?!" Caleb interjected "Besides, you really think you're the only one suffering here, huh? I have a girlfriend for crying out loud!"

My jaw dropped slightly.

"You have a girlfriend? For how long?" I asked, not really concerned or anything—because let's face it, he placed himself in this situation—I'm just surprised that nobody in the media has been talking about it.

"We've been secretly going out for three months, but Patricia knows. Her name's Leila, she lives in London. We met six months ago and started this whole long distance relationship thing about two months ago." Caleb explained.

"You're still together?! Caleb, why didn't you remind me sooner?!" Patricia groaned. "You haven't been talking about her lately I just assumed—"

"How am I supposed to bring up Leila when all I can think about is the tweet and how I'm messing everything up?!" Caleb buried his face in his hands.

"Please tell me this deal is over." I said, closing my eyes and praying that they could just call this whole thing off. For my sake and, well, okay sure, for Caleb's sake as well.

"Caleb, I—" Patricia, to her credit, did look sorry. She seemed lost about what to do next.

"I know, Patricia, I know," Caleb sighed defeatedly after a minute of silence. "This is my doing."

Patricia just gave him a sympathetic look before speaking. "I'm sorry, Caleb. You know I wouldn't force you if this wasn't the last resort, but it is. And if you keep dating Leila on the side while you're having a relationship with Liam you'll appear like the bad guy again."

"I guess there's no reason to delay it." Caleb mumbled, looking devastated about the turn of events. He stood up and stormed out of the office.

I didn't know what to say, so I just leaned back on the chair, playing with my lip ring. "Liam," Patricia exhaled. "This is really unfair to you, I know. But we're willing to pay you for the trouble, and we truly believe that this sort of publicity stunt will help your new upcoming movie. And, we'll even offer you a deal."

Her last statement caught my attention. "What kind of deal?"

"The two of us," Patricia gestured to her and Dave. "Have agreed to follow one of your requests before, during, or after this whole thing. Just as long as it's not a request to stop the plan or reveal to anyone that it's fake."

"Both of you?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Yes, Liam," Dave nodded "Any request."

"I don't have to think of the request now, right?" I asked. They both nodded. "Yes, you don't have to. Just as long as you follow the contract, we'll give you anything you want." Dave clarified.

I thought about it for a moment. Dave may be a good manager, but he can be way too strict at times. I can't even hang out with some of my male friends because he says it can start rumors. He and the rest of management know the password to every. single. one. of my social media accounts so he has the power to post or delete anything.

"So, do we have a deal?" Dave asked, extending his arm towards me. Patricia doing the same. I eyed both of them. Really, what else did I have to lose?

"Alright," I mumbled. "Deal." I shook both of their hands.

Before any of us could say anything else, the door burst open and slammed shut. I turned around, seeing an enraged Caleb with his jaw locked and his hands balled into fists.

"What happened?" Patricia asked. He ignored her question and sat back down. We all stared at him for a moment, watching as he closed his eyes and took in deep breaths. Slowly, his features turned less tense, and his hands slowly unravelled before they ran through his hair.

"Well, I called to end things with Leila," Caleb said. "But she didn't answer. Her boyfriend did."

I furrowed my eyebrows, confused. "Wait, but I thought—" My eyes widened. "Oh. Oh. Uh," I coughed awkwardly. "Never mind. I got it."

"The jackass told me to stay away from Leila and to stop contacting her." Caleb muttered.

"Wow," Dave coughed. "I'm sorry, Caleb, that's really a shame."

Dave was cut off by the door opening and Vivian peeked inside, almost cautiously. I wonder if she had seen Caleb on the phone outside. "Um, Mr. Zellner, I'm very sorry to interrupt again, but there are paparazzi swarming the building outside. Security's on its way."

"Thank you, Vivian." Dave nodded as his assistant closed the door.

I watched as Dave's face slowly morphed into a grin. "Hang on."

"I don't like that smile," I confessed, feeling uneasy.

"This could be... Yes! This could be good. You two can exit the building together, holding hands. Then, you'll enter the same car. I'll have Vivian arrange that. This'll make the tabloids go wild!" It was a no-brainer that Dave found his own idea amazing.

"Woah, woah, what? We're starting now?!" I hadn't expected that. Caleb wasn't saying anything, but he was definitely as taken aback as I was.

"That is brilliant!" Patricia grinned in acknowledgment. "The media will just eat this up! I can already imagine it!"

It was as if the two of them were in a trance, "First, you have to sign here," David slid the previously mentioned contracts across the table, closer towards us. "Then we can commence with the plan."

I looked at the contract. Then I glanced at Caleb who was already staring at me. He had some type of look across his face. He didn't look angry or annoyed, maybe just a little terrified. He seemed to be observing me, trying to see what I'll do next.

I believe that this is Caleb's first major screw-up since the beginning of his career. Which means he's probably scared and willing to do anything to fix it.

I remember my first major screw-up. I slept with this guy who took pictures of me naked and leaked them on the internet.

But, that's a story for another time.

I remember how I felt back then. I was utterly humiliated and terrified about what people were saying and how it would affect my entire career.

That's what Caleb's feeling right now.

And no matter how hard I try to deny it, I'm not exactly a cold-hearted person. I feel for Caleb. If I don't actually do this, this will probably become an even bigger issue for him and his band.

Man, just because of a tweet people think he's homophobic now?

Returning my gaze back towards the contract in front of me, I took a deep breath, grabbed the pen that was placed on Dave's desk before I could talk myself out of it and signed the paper where my name was located.

I felt Caleb still staring, but I couldn't look at him. I kept my gaze on the floor.

He signed the contract as well.

"Alright then! Let's get started." Dave spoke up.

#

Liam and I stood inside the elevator, a huge space between us. Through the thick layer of tension in the air, I could feel Liam's nervousness.

Hell, I'm fucking shaking.

"Hey, uh," I coughed. "Thanks, I-I guess."

Liam let out a long, exasperated sigh. "If you think that just because I agreed to this we're suddenly back to the way we were before, then you are utterly wrong. I can't let go of everything that easily." He said.

I was left speechless by that. Deciding to just let it be for now, I eyed the numbers of the floors we passed.

5...

4...

"Sorry about Leila."

My eyebrows rose at the sudden statement. I turned and saw Liam staring at the floor.

"Yeah, well.. Guess it's karma."

3...

2...

1...

The elevator dinged open to reveal the lobby. Fingers suddenly reach to take my hand and I freak out for a moment, almost hitting Liam in the face.

I stared at him weirdly.

"We're supposed to hold hands when we get out of the building, you moron!" Liam whispered angrily.

"Oh right," I cleared my throat. "Sorry about that."

"This is your fault, by the way, so I hope you don't make it obvious for other people what we're trying to hide here." Liam grumbled under his breath, once again taking my hands in his and intertwining our fingers.

It was... familiar, yet so foreign to me now.

We began to walk towards the front door, Liam leading the way. We passed by the girl behind the desk and she looked like she was about to greet Liam, but she was stopped and was shocked to see us holding hands.

I ignored her and kept walking until Liam and I reached the front doors.

"Well, this is it," I sighed.

"This is fucked up," Liam whispered.

"Look at that. We agree on something," I grabbed the handle and pushed the door open.

The entire scene was crazy.

There were about thirty or so people with different kinds of cameras and microphones. Security made a path for me and Liam to go through, and for a moment I felt too overwhelmed.

The blinding lights, the pushing bodies, the questions being shouted at us.

"Liam, why are you two holding hands?"

"Caleb, are you and Liam dating?"

"What about the tweet?"

"Caleb, are you gay?"

I began to feel a bit lightheaded as even more questions came from the persistent paparazzi. Liam and I kept ignoring them. At one point, I almost tripped because I could barely see my feet, but Liam prevented that from happening by wrapping an arm around my waist, making the people more mental.

We finally reached the black van security led us to and Liam ushered me in before he followed. I watched as paparazzi were pushing one another to get a better view of us leaving, which was pointless because the van was heavily tinted.

"That was insane." I breathed out, grateful when the driver started to drive away further from the building. I glanced at Liam who was staring outside, a hard look on his face.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked, surprising myself.

"Yeah, m'fine," Liam answered. "I just realized how insane the next couple of weeks will be."